Chapter Eighteen
“We will waithere for you.” Lord Graham directed when they reached the Mirvat’s lobby.
“Do you wish me to go with you, my child?” Mrs. Ottoway asked.
“No, I shall be well,” Emma assured them, though the idea of touching the stack of messages had sweat beading between her breasts. “It shan’t take long. They are tied together.” Squeezing the back of Mrs. Ottoway’s hand in support, Emma turned to climb the stairs, but Lord Orson stood between her and the task. “I am well, my lord,” she repeated.
He tugged her several steps away from the others and turned her to face him. “No matter what the messages say or what others think, I will not walk away from you, Emma. In me, you have found a steady companion. I have often endeavored to reason against the reasons I adore you, but I have failed miserably, for the pain would be too great. Doing so would mean I am unable to exist, for I cannot breathe without you.”
She wanted to throw herself into his embrace and never come out, but they had an audience watching them. “I mean to prove myself worthy, my lord. You have my solemn promise.”
“Lady Emma?” Lord Graham reminded her of her task. She nodded her understanding.
“I shan’t be long. I want this madness to be over so I might begin again,” she told Orson.
“As do I,” his lordship said softly.
Emma lifted her skirt and dashed up the stairs, turning briefly to present Lord Orson a small wave. He remained at the bottom of the stairs, looking up to her. He nodded his encouragement, and, with a smile, Emma turned towards her suite of rooms. She happily slid her key into the lock, but the latch turned before she reached for it. The door swung open, and she was facing a familiar face—someone she would not expect to have followed her to the Mirvat. “It was you on the street in Bletchley!”
“Stop pacing,” Grahamwarned. “You remind me of... Well, we all know how I despise people who pace.”
“What is taking so long?” Richard demanded. “Lady Emma said she knew exactly where to look.”
“It has been less than five minutes,” Mrs. Ottoway said. “I have been watching the clock yonder.” She pointed to a large grandfather clock near the outer room.
“Still,” Richard insisted. “Should not one of us know assurances that all is well? Perhaps looking at the messages caused Lady Emma to have another frightening memory.”
“I shall go,” Mrs. Ottoway said as she started up the stairs. “I am confident it is nothing more than wrestling her ladyship’s bag down from where we placed it on top of the wardrobe.” When she reached the top of the stairs, Mrs. Ottoway called, “Lady Emma, what has delayed you, child?”
The woman also disappeared into the passage along the upper storey.
“This is quite a unique idea for a hotel,” Graham remarked while they waited. “If the owner could take control of several of the other houses on this street and expand, he could make a fortune.”
Richard was still watching the stairs. “Perhaps you could assist in financing such a venture. Be the absent partner. You have a knack for such ventures. Moreover, you are one of the wealthiest men in both England and Scotland, and you are known for your most excellent business aplomb. Your children will want for nothing.”
“I must first discover a woman who ignores both this scar on my cheek and my limp,” Graham said with a shrug of embarrassment.
“Permit the woman you affect to know the man you are first before you allow her to know anything of your wealth beyond the fact you are an earl.” Richard looked again to the stairs. “Should not one of them have returned by now?”
Graham, too, looked to the empty stairs, though he still spoke of his potential bride, “You are correct, I wish to be judged for more than my wealth, and...”
Richard was not to know the rest of his friend’s observation.
“My lords!” Mrs. Ottoway could be heard screeching. “My lords!”
Richard did not wait for the hotel staff to present him permission to be above stairs. He bounded up the staircase and turned to the right to run into Mrs. Ottoway. “What has happened?” he asked, as he instinctively caught the woman to steady her stance.
Mrs. Ottoway was in tears, but she managed to say, “She’s gone! The room is turned upside down!”
“Where?” Richard demanded.
Mrs. Ottoway pointed off to the right, and Richard rushed off towards an open door further along the hall. Within seconds, he was standing in a sitting room, which had been turned upon its head. Drawers had been pulled from their tables and dumped upon the floor. He retrieved his gun from an inside pocket and cross-stepped to an open door to an interior room. His heart sank when he saw what had been executed upon Lady Emma’s quarters. Pillows had been slashed down the middle and the feathers were all over the floor and bed. Blankets and sheets were strewn about the floor, and, again, drawers in cabinets and tables and the desk had been pulled out and the items dumped upon the floor, as had been the items in the wardrobe. It was all ripped to shreds.
“Dear God!” Richard said in pure disbelief. “I saved her only to turn her over again to her tormentor.”
Graham followed Richard into the bedchamber. “I sent Mrs. Ottoway below to fetch the night porter. We must learn who had access to these quarters in our short absence.”
“Obviously someone...” Richard said as he made another slow turn in place to take in the state of the room. “What is happening, Graham? I do not like being one step behind when it means Lady Emma is in danger.”
